Mississippi Animal Laws

So just what is all the controversy over Mississippi's animal cruelty laws? First, let's review a little history. Mississippi currently has a hodgepodge of statutes that together comprise our animal cruelty law. Some of the statutes are better than others with the general one, Section 97-41-1, already tossed by the Mississippi Supreme Court as being unconstitutional in Davis v Mississippi. The ruling in that case began the big push by the animal rightists led by the HSUS, ASPCA, and In Defense of Animals to have "their" version of a new law passed. They are supported by well intentioned animal lovers who know nothing about the law or the issues and erroneously think "any law is better than none". On the other side of the issue has been the agriculture producers supported by Mississippi Farm Bureau, and those dog owners, breeders, and rescuers who know what the end goal of the animal rightist movement is and who educated themselves to the dangers of a badly worded law rather than follow the clueless.

Despite the fact that the animal rightists and the clueless refuse to acknowledge that there are legitimate issues and instead resort to name calling, protests, and threats, the truth is that a badly worded law can easily make criminals out of innocent animal owners, adversely affect the livelihoods of our farmers, destroy hunting and fishing, put the state's economy in even worse shape than it already is in, and cost the taxpayers when the civil rights lawsuits begin. And they will come just as is happening in other states as animal owners are now fighting back against illegal raids by animal rightists, corrupt local humane society agents, and uneducated local law enforcement officers. Mississippi is particularly vulnerable to these raids because, to complicate matters, we have as current law Section 97-41-2, an unconstitutional seizure statute that is a flagrant violation of the 4th, 5th, and 14th Amendments.

The uninformed thinks that drafting an animal cruelty law is so easy. It is not as many of us have learned over the past six years. Not only does one have to learn alot about criminal law and constitutional protections regarding enforcement of all criminal laws, but one has to have a great deal of knowledge and hands on experience in animal husbandry. Just as important, one has to understand the strategies of the animal rights movement and how its leaders and lobbyists are achieving their anti-pet breeding, anti-meat, anti-hunting, anti-animal use agenda through seemingly simple laws such as felony animal cruelty. The average dog loving pet owner does not have the ability to grasp what is really going on in the animal world, but they sure do need to start learning before its too late.